How to get an absolute file path in Python

Question

Given a path such as \"mydir/myfile.txt\", how do I find the file\'s absolute path relative to the current working directory in Python? E.g. on Windows, I might

Answer 1

In case someone is using python and linux and looking for full path to file:

>>> path=os.popen("readlink -f file").read()
>>> print path
abs/path/to/file

Answer 2

Today you can also use the unipath package which was based on path.py: http://sluggo.scrapping.cc/python/unipath/

>>> from unipath import Path
>>> absolute_path = Path('mydir/myfile.txt').absolute()
Path('C:\\example\\cwd\\mydir\\myfile.txt')
>>> str(absolute_path)
C:\\example\\cwd\\mydir\\myfile.txt
>>>

I would recommend using this package as it offers a clean interface to common os.path utilities.

Answer 3

Install a third-party path module (found on PyPI), it wraps all the os.path functions and other related functions into methods on an object that can be used wherever strings are used:

>>> from path import path
>>> path('mydir/myfile.txt').abspath()
'C:\\example\\cwd\\mydir\\myfile.txt'